Method, system, and manufacture for providing better customer service by analyzing customer communications

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a system and method for analyzing customer communications to provide better customer service including generating customer related data from communications of a customer by at least one sensing device located in a venue, transmitting the generated customer related data to an analysis engine, determining based on an analysis of the customer related data a customer experience, identifying at least one suggestion to provide better customer service including the identification of a representative of the venue that the analysis engine has determined can assist the customer, and receiving the at least one suggestion including an indication that the representative should assist the customer from the analysis engine by a computing device associated with the representative of the venue.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/281,650 filed Sep. 30, 2016 which is incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the analysis of customercommunications to provide better customer service.

BACKGROUND

Brick and mortar stores or other venues often include many aisles,pathways, etc., storing different goods for purchase by customers. Ofteneach aisle will have a sign indicating generic or general categories ofgoods that the aisle includes. In some cases, however, a visitingcustomer may have trouble locating an item of interest in the aisles.For example, the customer may be unsure of the category to which theitem belongs or simply may not be able to locate the item within theappropriate aisle itself. Customer frustration over an inability toquickly and efficiently find the item of interest may cause the customerto leave the store without purchasing anything, provide bad reviews ofthe store, or other similar negative outcomes. In addition, if thecustomer desires help in finding the specific item of interest but isunable to locate a store employee in the vicinity, or if the locatedstore employee does not know where the specific item is, the customerfrustration may increase thereby tarnishing the reputation of the store.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The system, method, and computer program product described hereinanalyze customer communications to provide better customer service.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for providing bettercustomer service by analyzing customer communications is disclosed. Themethod includes generating customer related data from communications ofa customer in a venue by at least one sensing device located in thevenue, and transmitting the generated customer related data to ananalysis engine. The analysis engine is configured to analyze thegenerated customer related data, determine based on the analysis acustomer experience, and identify at least one suggestion to providebetter customer service, the at least one suggestion comprising theidentification of a representative of the venue that the analysis enginehas determined can assist the customer. The method further includesreceiving, by a computing device associated with the representative ofthe venue, the at least one suggestion from the analysis engine. The atleast one suggestion includes an indication that the representativeshould assist the customer.

In aspects of the present disclosure apparatus, systems, and computerprogram products in accordance with the above aspect may also beprovided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The details of the present disclosure, both as to its structure andoperation, can best be understood by referring to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numbers and designations refer to likeelements.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with anaspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of a computer system in whichprocesses involved in the system, method, and computer program productdescribed herein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides methods and systems that analyzecustomer communications to provide better customer service.

With reference now to FIG. 1, a system 100 for detecting and takingaction on a customer's experience in a venue. System 100 gatherscustomer related data through the use of sensing devices 102 locatedthroughout the venue. For example, sensing devices 102 may be located onor in aisles 104, mounted to venue structures such as the walls,ceiling, columns, or other similar hard points, or located in any othervenue location. Sensing devices 102 may include, for example,microphones, video cameras, or other similar sensing devices. The venuemay include, for example, brick and mortar stores, open air storespaces, concert venue's sporting venues, or any other venue wheresensing devices 102 may be located and where a customer experience maybe monitored.

In some aspects, customer related data may include, for example, audiodata, video, data or any other data that may indicate how a customer isexperiencing the venue. For example, the customer related data mayinclude an indication that a customer is having difficulty in a venue.For example, sensing devices 102 may monitor any verbal communicationsor body motions of the customer including but not limited to, thecustomer's communications with other customers, the customer'scommunications with representatives of the venue, pacing, erraticbehavior, arm waving, or any other customer communications or actionsregardless of whether or not they are directed toward a particularindividual in the venue. For example, a customer may be searching anaisle for a particular product and may complain to no one in particularabout how hard the product is to find. In this case sensing devices 102may capture the complaint as customer related data for analysis by ananalysis engine. In another example, the customer may be having aconversation on a cellular telephone regarding the product that thecustomer is looking for. Sensing devices 102 may also capture thecustomer's side of the conversation as customer related data foranalysis to determine if the customer is experiencing difficulty, e.g.,struggling to find a particular product or otherwise requiringassistance. In some aspects, sensing devices 102, e.g., a video camera,may capture body motions of the customer, e.g., erratic waving of thearms or other similar motions that may indicate that the customer ishaving difficulty, e.g., the customer is exhibiting signs of frustrationdue to the struggle with finding a particular product.

System 100 may also gather the customer related data through the use ofsensing devices 106 associated with representatives 108. For example, arepresentative 108 may wear or carry a sensing device 106 such as amicrophone, video camera or other similar sensing device, such that anyinteractions or communications of a customer 110 or betweenrepresentative 108 and the customer 110 may be recorded.

In some aspects, representative 108 may also carry a computing device112 that may be used by the representative to input customer relateddata, item related data, or any other data that may help in assistingthe customer. Computing device 112 may also receive and display dataincluding a course of action or answer for the customer.

In some aspects, the customer related data gathered by sensing devices102 and 106, and by computing device 112 may be sent to the cloud forremote analysis by an analysis engine 114. For example, the analysisengine 114, e.g., IBM Watson®, may be configured to analyze the receivedcustomer related data from sensing devices 102 and 106, and fromcomputing device 112, to detect a tone of a customer's communications,determine a length of the communications, detect key phrases used by thecustomer or a representative, translate voice to text, and analyze thetext to generate possible suggestions for how to improve the customer'sexperience and provide better customer service to the customer. Forexample, analysis engine 114 may analyze the customer related datareceived from sensing devices 102 and 106 and determine that a customeris exhibiting negative emotions. For example, analysis engine 114 mayanalyze the customer's voice or tone to determine whether the customeris exhibiting negative emotions during a conversation. In response todetermining that the customer is displaying negative emotions during aconversation, analysis engine 114 may transmit a promotional offer tocomputing device 112 for display to the customer including a promotionrelevant to the customer's topic of conversation or relevant to thetopic that caused the customer's display of negative emotions. In someaspects, for example, the promotional offer may be transmitted to adevice of the customer, e.g., smart phone, smart watch, other smartwearable device, or other device, etc. For example, the promotionaloffer may be transmitted to the customer via Bluetooth, WI-FI, or othersimilar short range wireless communication standards. In some aspects,the promotional offer may be transmitted to the customer via, forexample, e-mail, text, or other similar forms of communication.

In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may determine based on the analysisthat the representative 108 is not able to assist customer 110effectively. For example, the analysis may determine that therepresentative 108 has stated a key phrase such as “I don't work in thisdepartment”, the analysis may determine that the length of thecommunication between customer 110 and representative 108 has extendedbeyond a pre-determined threshold amount of time, the analysis maydetermine that a tone of customer 110 in the communication indicates anincreasing amount of frustration with the representative 108 or with alack of progress in assisting the customer with the customer'sexperience, or other similar determinations.

In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may supply representative 108 withinformation for assisting with the customer's experience and providingbetter customer service, for example, via computing device 112, aspeaker associated with representative 108, or other similarcommunication means. For example, the analysis engine 114 may supply therepresentative 108 with information on a particular product, directionsfor where the product is, or other similar information that may beutilized to improve the customer's experience and provide bettercustomer service.

In some aspects, when the analysis engine 114 determines thatrepresentative 108 is not able to effectively assist the customer 110with the customer's experience, analysis engine 114 may identify anotherrepresentative 116 as a representative that may be able to assist thecustomer more effectively. For example, analysis engine 114 may analyzea personnel file associated with representative 116 that showsrepresentative 116 has having familiarity with the item or category ofitems identified by the analysis engine 114 as being the topic of thecommunications between customer 110 and representative 106. Analysisengine 114 may also determine that representative 116 is not currentlyengaged with another customer, for example, through the use of sensingdevices 102 or 106, and that the representative 106 is available in thevenue, e.g., through the use of sensing devices 102 or 106, via acomputing device 118 associated with representative 116, or throughother location detection methods. For example, GPS coordinates, wirelesstriangulation, or other similar methods determining a location ofcomputing device 118 may be used to determine representative 116'slocation.

In some aspects, representative 116 may be provided with the customer110's location by analysis engine 114, e.g., via computing device 118, aspeaker earbud, or other similar presentation device. For example,analysis engine 114 may provide a map of the venue to representative 116including an indication of where the customer 110 is located. Thelocation of the customer 110 may be determined, for example, based onthe location of representative 108 (e.g., by determining a location ofcomputing device 112), based on a known location of one or more of thesensing devices 102 that are capturing customer related data fromcustomer 110, or other similar location determination methods.

In some aspects, the customer related data may be analyzed by analysisengine 114 to determine a set of promotions that may be provided tocustomer 110 by representatives 108 or 116 via computing devices 112 or118. For example, if the customer related data indicates that thecustomer has a specific need, e.g., a particular ailment, a particulardish that they wish to cook, etc., analysis engine 114 may determinewhat products may meet that need and may provide a promotion for asuitable product to the customer 110 via computing devices 112 or 118.In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may provide the promotion directlyto the customer via a customer device, e.g., smart phone, smart watch,table, or other similar device, if the customer has registered with thevenue, downloaded application associated with the venue, or providedcontact information such as an e-mail address.

Referring now to FIG. 2, in another illustration of system 100, sensingdevices 102 may include at least one processor 202, memory 204, anetwork interface 206, and any other feature commonly found in acomputing device. Sensing devices 102 may generate and store customerrelated data 208 in memory 204 and may wired or wirelessly transmit thecustomer related data to analysis engine 114 using network interface206. In some aspects, processor 202, memory 204, and network interface206 may be located remotely from sensing devices 102, e.g., on acomputing device (not shown) associated with the venue and the customerrelated data 208 may be transmitted from sensing devices 102 to analysisengine 114 indirectly via the computing device associated with thevenue. For example, each sensing devices 102 may include a simplemicrophone that may communicate the generated customer related data tothe computing device associated with the venue via wired or wirelesstechnology and the computing device may then transmit the customerrelated data to the analysis engine 114.

In some aspects, sensing devices 106 may include at least one processor212, memory 214, a network interface 216, and any other feature commonlyfound in a computing device, similar to sensing devices 102. Sensingdevice 106 may generate and store customer related data 208 in memory214 and may wired or wirelessly transmit the customer related data toanalysis engine 114 using network interface 216. In some aspects,processor 212, memory 214, and network interface 216 may be locatedremotely from sensing devices 106, e.g., on a computing device 112associated with the representative 108 and the customer related data 208may be transmitted from sensing devices 106 to analysis engine 114indirectly via the computing device 112. For example, sensing devices102 may include a microphone attached or held by representative 108. Insome aspects, sensing device 106 may be included as part of computingdevice 112.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, in some aspects, computing device112 may include at least one processor 222, memory 224, a networkinterface 226, a display 228 and any other feature commonly found in acomputing device. Computing device 112 may generate and store customerrelated data 208 in memory 224 in a similar manner to sensing device 106and may wired or wirelessly transmit the customer related data 208 toanalysis engine 114 using network interface 226. In some aspects,computing device 112 may be a portable computing device 112 such as, forexample, a tablet, smart phone, smart watch, smart wearable technology,laptop, or other similar portable computing device. In some aspects,computing device 112 may be a kiosk or other computing device 112 thatis positioned within the venue for use by the representative to assistcustomers. In some aspects, computing device 112 may transmit thecustomer related data 208 to analysis engine 114 and may receive data orother information back from analysis engine 114 that analysis engine 114has determined will assist the customer including, for example, asuggested product, promotions, answers to questions, an indication ofwhich aisle contains an item of interest that will remedy the customer'sdifficulty, where in the aisle the item resides, or other similar dataor other information. In some aspects, computing device 112 may receivethe data or other information from analysis engine 114 based on customerrelated data 208 that was transmitted to analysis engine 114 by anotherdevice, e.g., sensing devices 102 or 106. Computing device 112 may beconfigured to display the received data or information on display 228for review by representative 108 or customer 110.

In some aspects, computing device 118 may include at least one processor232, memory 234, a network interface 236, a display 238 and any otherfeature commonly found in a computing device, similar to computingdevice 112. In some aspects, computing device 116 may be a portablecomputing device 118 such as, for example, a tablet, smart phone, smartwatch, smart wearable technology, laptop, or other similar portablecomputing device. In some aspects, computing device 118 may be a kioskor other computing device 118 that is positioned within the venue foruse by the representative 116 to assist customers. In some aspects,computing device 118 may receive an indication from analysis engine 114that analysis engine 114 has determined a customer 110 is in need offurther assistance. For example, computing device 118 may receive alocation of the customer 110 and an indication of what the customer's isexperiencing in the venue that caused the customer to requireassistance. In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may provide computingdevice 118 with a suggested product, promotions, answers to questions,an indication of which aisle contains the item of interest and where inthe aisle the item resides, or other similar data or other information.In some aspects, computing device 118 may receive the data or otherinformation from analysis engine 114 based on customer related data 208that was transmitted to analysis engine 114 by another device, e.g.,sensing devices 102 or 106 or computing device 112. Computing device 118may be configured to display the received data or information on display238 for review by representative 116. For example, computing device 118may display a map on display 238 indicating a location of the customer110 and/or representative 108 that is currently helping the customer110.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, analysis engine 114 is configured toanalyze both structured and unstructured customer related data byapplying advanced natural language processing, information retrieval,knowledge representation, automatic cognitive reasoning, and machinelearning technologies. In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may betrained using venue related data including, for example, item inventoryand locations, item descriptions, or any other item related data. Insome aspects, analysis engine 114 may be trained to detect a tone ofconversation. For example, analysis engine 114 may receive a largedatabase of tones as a training input and may be trained to determine adifference between tones of voice using the training input. The trainedanalysis engine 114 may then be used to determine a tone of the customer110's conversation, e.g., happy, sad, mad, angry, frustrated,ambivalent, stressed, etc. Analysis engine 114 may also be trained inhow to respond to the various tones or other data, for example, bymaking suggestions to representative 108 via computing device 112,contacting representative 116 to help the customer via computing device118, or other similar responses. For example, analysis engine 114 may beinitially trained by question/answer pairs based on the tone database orother databases. In some aspects, analysis engine 114 may also betrained as representatives answer customer questions. An exampleanalysis engine 114 that may be used to analyze customer communicationsto detect and take action on a customer's in-store difficulties is IBMWatson®.

With reference now to FIGS. 1-3, a method 300 for providing bettercustomer service by analyzing customer communications is disclosed. At302, customer related data 208 is generated from communications by acustomer 110 by at least one sensing device 102 or 106 located in thevenue. For example, any time the customer speaks, audio data may becaptured and customer related data 208 may be generated based on thecaptured audio data.

At 304, the generated customer related data 208 is transmitted to ananalysis engine 114. For example, the analysis engine 114 may be locatedremotely from the venue.

At 306, the analysis engine 114 analyzes the generated customer relateddata 208 to determine a customer experience of the customer 110 in thevenue. For example, the analysis engine 114 may analyze a tone of thecommunications, a length of the communications, a use of key phrases bythe customer or by a representative of the venue, translate the voice totext, analyze the text, or other similar forms of analysis to determinethe customer experience.

At 308, analysis engine 114 determines whether the customer experienceof the customer 110 indicates that the customer is experiencing adifficulty in the venue. If analysis engine 114 determines that thecustomer 110 is not experiencing a difficulty, the at least one sensor102 or 106 continues to generate customer related data at 302 based oncustomer communications. If the analysis engine 114 determines that thecustomer 112 is experiencing a difficulty, analysis engine 114identifies at least one suggestion to provide better customer service tothe customer at 310. For example, the at least one suggestion mayinclude the identification of a representative 116 of the venue that theanalysis engine 114 has determined can assist the customer 110 with thedifficulty.

At 312, analysis engine 114 transmits the at least one suggestion to acomputing device 118 associated with the representative 116 of thevenue.

At 314, computing device 118 receives the at least one suggestion fromthe analysis engine 114 and in response to receiving the at least onesuggestion, displays on a display of the computing device 114, anindication that the representative should assist the customer with thecustomer's experience at 316.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic of an example computer or processingsystem that may implement any portion of system 100, system 200, sensingdevice 102, sensing device 106, computing device 112, analysis engine114, computing device 118, systems, methods, and computer programproducts described herein in one embodiment of the present disclosure.The computer system is only one example of a suitable processing systemand is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of embodiments of the methodology described herein. Theprocessing system shown may be operational with numerous other generalpurpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of well-known computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the processingsystem may include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems,server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptopdevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set topboxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputersystems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

The computer system may be described in the general context of computersystem executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.The computer system may be practiced in distributed cloud computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloudcomputing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

The components of computer system may include, but are not limited to,one or more processors or processing units 12, a system memory 16, and abus 14 that couples various system components including system memory 16to processor 12. The processor 12 may include a software module 10 thatperforms the methods described herein. The module 10 may be programmedinto the integrated circuits of the processor 12, or loaded from memory16, storage device 18, or network 24 or combinations thereof.

Bus 14 may represent one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system may include a variety of computer system readable media.Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computersystem, and it may include both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media.

System memory 16 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) and/or cachememory or others. Computer system may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 18 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(e.g., a “hard drive”). Although not shown, a magnetic disk drive forreading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk(e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from orwriting to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances, eachcan be connected to bus 14 by one or more data media interfaces.

Computer system may also communicate with one or more external devices26 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 28, etc.; one ormore devices that enable a user to interact with computer system; and/orany devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computersystem to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Suchcommunication can occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 20.

Still yet, computer system can communicate with one or more networks 24such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN),and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 22. Asdepicted, network adapter 22 communicates with the other components ofcomputer system via bus 14. It should be understood that although notshown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with computer system. Examples include, but are not limitedto: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external diskdrive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storagesystems, etc.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an opticalstorage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combinationof the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readablestorage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store aprogram for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages, a scripting language such as Perl, VBS or similarlanguages, and/or functional languages such as Lisp and ML andlogic-oriented languages such as Prolog. The program code may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The computer program product may comprise all the respective featuresenabling the implementation of the methodology described herein, andwhich—when loaded in a computer system—is able to carry out the methods.Computer program, software program, program, or software, in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: (a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; and/or (b) reproduction in a differentmaterial form.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements, if any, in the claims below areintended to include any structure, material, or act for performing thefunction in combination with other claimed elements as specificallyclaimed. The description of the present invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

Various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied as a program,software, or computer instructions embodied in a computer or machineusable or readable medium, which causes the computer or machine toperform the steps of the method when executed on the computer,processor, and/or machine. A program storage device readable by amachine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by themachine to perform various functionalities and methods described in thepresent disclosure is also provided.

The system and method of the present disclosure may be implemented andrun on a general-purpose computer or special-purpose computer system.The terms “computer system” and “computer network” as may be used in thepresent application may include a variety of combinations of fixedand/or portable computer hardware, software, peripherals, and storagedevices. The computer system may include a plurality of individualcomponents that are networked or otherwise linked to performcollaboratively, or may include one or more stand-alone components. Thehardware and software components of the computer system of the presentapplication may include and may be included within fixed and portabledevices such as desktop, laptop, and/or server. A module may be acomponent of a device, software, program, or system that implements some“functionality”, which can be embodied as software, hardware, firmware,electronic circuitry, or etc.

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that thereare other embodiments that are equivalent to the described embodiments.Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention is not to belimited by the specific illustrated embodiments, but only by the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented by at least one hardwareprocessor for detecting and taking action on a customer's experience ina venue, comprising: generating customer related data fromcommunications of a customer in the venue by at least one sensing devicemounted to a structure of the venue at a known location in the venue;transmitting the generated customer related data from the at least onesensing device to an analysis engine on a separate device, the analysisengine configured to: analyze the generated customer related data byapplying natural language processing, cognitive reasoning and machinelearning technologies to detect a tone of the customer's communications;determine a location of the customer in the venue based on the knownlocation of the at least one sensing device in the venue; determine alength of the communications of the customer based on the analysis;determine a customer experience based on the determined length of thecommunications; and identify at least one suggestion to provide bettercustomer service based at least in part on the detected tone of thecustomer's communications, the determined customer experience, and thedetermined length of the communications, the at least one suggestioncomprising the identification of a representative of the venue that theanalysis engine has determined can assist the customer; receiving, by afurther, separate computing device associated with the representative ofthe venue, the at least one suggestion from the analysis engine and thedetermined location of the customer in the venue, the at least onesuggestion comprising an indication that the representative shouldassist the customer; and in response to receiving the at least onesuggestion, displaying on a display of the computing device associatedwith the representative of the venue, the indication that therepresentative should assist the customer and an indication of thecustomer's location in response to receiving the at least onesuggestion.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication of thecustomer's location comprises a map including the customer's location,the computing device associated with the representative of the venuedisplaying the map on the display in response to receiving the at leastone suggestion from the analysis engine.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the customer related data is unstructured data and the analysisengine is configured to analyze unstructured data to generate the atleast one suggestion.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysisengine is configured to: determine the customer experience based on thedetermined tone of the communications.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe analysis engine is configured to: detect key phrase in thecommunications of the customer; determine the customer experience basedon the detected key phrase; identify the at least one suggestion basedat least in part on the detected key phrase in the communications of thecustomer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis engine isconfigured to: translate the communications of the customer into text;analyze the text to determine the customer experience; and identify theat least one suggestion based at least in part on the analysis of thetext.
 7. A system for detecting and taking action on a customer'sexperience in a venue, the system comprising: at least one sensingdevice mounted to a structure of the venue at a known location in thevenue and configured to generate customer related data from acommunications of a customer in the venue, the at least one sensingdevice configured to transmit the customer related data from the atleast one sensing device to an analysis engine on a separate device, theanalysis engine configured to analyze the generated customer relateddata by applying natural language processing, cognitive reasoning andmachine learning technologies to detect a tone of the customer'scommunications, to determine a location of the customer in the venuebased on the known location of the at least one sensing device in thevenue, to determine a length of the communications of the customer basedon the analysis, to determine a customer experience based on thedetermined length of the communications, and to identify at least onesuggestion to provide better customer service based at least in part onthe detected tone of the customer's communications, the determinedcustomer experience, and the determined length of the communications,the at least one suggestion comprising the identification of arepresentative of the venue that the analysis engine has determined canassist the customer; and a further, separate computing device associatedwith the representative of the venue, the computing device configured toreceive the at least one suggestion from the analysis engine and thedetermined location of the customer in the venue, the at least onesuggestion comprising an indication that the representative shouldassist the customer, and in response to receiving the at least onesuggestion, display on a display of the computing device associated withthe representative of the venue, the indication that the representativeshould assist the customer and an indication of the customer's locationin response to receiving the at least one suggestion.
 8. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the indication of the customer's location comprises amap including the customer's location, the computing device associatedwith the representative of the venue displaying the map on the displayin response to receiving the at least one suggestion from the analysisengine.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein the customer related data isunstructured data and the analysis engine is configured to analyzeunstructured data to generate the at least one suggestion.
 10. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the analysis engine is configured to:determine the customer experience based on the determined tone of thecommunications.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein the analysis engineis configured to: detect key phrase in the communications of thecustomer; determine the customer experience based on the detected keyphrase; identify the at least one suggestion based at least in part onthe detected key phrase of the communications.
 12. The system of claim7, wherein the analysis engine is configured to: translate thecommunications of the customer into text; analyze the text to determinethe customer experience; and identify the at least one suggestion basedat least in part on the analysis of the text.
 13. A non-transitorycomputer program product comprising instructions that, when executed byat least one hardware processor, configure the at least one hardwareprocessor to implement a method for detecting and taking action on acustomer's experience in a venue, the method comprising: generatingcustomer related data from communications of a customer in the venue byat least one sensing device mounted to a structure of the venue at aknown location in the venue; transmitting the generated customer relateddata from the at least one sensing device to an analysis engine on aseparate device, the analysis engine configured to: analyze thegenerated customer related data by applying natural language processing,cognitive reasoning and machine learning technologies to detect a toneof the customer's communications; determine a location of the customerin the venue based on the known location of the at least one sensingdevice in the venue; determine a length of the communications of thecustomer based on the analysis; determine a customer experience based onthe determined length of the communications; and identify at least onesuggestion to provide better customer service based at least in part onthe detected tone of the customer's communications, the determinedcustomer experience, and the determined length of the communications,the at least one suggestion comprising the identification of arepresentative of the venue that the analysis engine has determined canassist the customer; receiving, by a further, separate computing deviceassociated with the representative of the venue, the at least onesuggestion from the analysis engine and the determined location of thecustomer in the venue, the at least one suggestion comprising anindication that the representative should assist the customer; and inresponse to receiving the at least one suggestion, displaying on adisplay of the computing device associated with the representative ofthe venue, the indication that the representative should assist thecustomer and an indication of the customer's location in response toreceiving the at least one suggestion.
 14. The non-transitory computerprogram product of claim 13, wherein: the communications of the customerare communications between the customer and a second representative; andthe identification of the representative of the venue that the analysisengine has determined can assist the customer is based on adetermination that the representative can assist the customer betterthan the second representative.
 15. The method according to claim 1,wherein: the analysis engine is configured to analyze the generatedcustomer related data to determine a promotion for the customer, and toprovide the promotion directly to the customer via the computing deviceassociated with the representative of the venue; and the receiving, by acomputing device associated with the representative of the venue, the atleast one suggestion from the analysis engine includes the computingdevice associated with the representative of the venue receiving thepromotion from the analysis engine.
 16. The method according to claim 1,wherein: the analyzing the generated customer related data includesanalyzing the tone of the customer's communications to determine whetherthe customer is exhibiting negative emotions during a conversation; andthe receiving the at least one suggestion from the analysis engineincludes in response to determining that the customer is displayingnegative emotions during the conversation, the analysis enginetransmitting a promotional offer to the further, separate computingdevice associated with the representative of the venue for display tothe customer.
 17. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the analysisengine is trained to detect the tone of the customer's communications byreceiving a database of tones as a training input, and determining adifference between tones of voice using the training input.
 18. Themethod according to claim 17, wherein the analysis engine is trained asthe representative of the venue answers questions of the customer.